


And If I Die Before I Wake

by machtaholic (cinderella81)



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e05 A Life in the Day, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 07:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19786501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderella81/pseuds/machtaholic
Summary: The Season 3 finale goes a little differently - everyone survives with memories intact.  Everyone goes off their separate ways and Eliot and Quentin each go to their own rooms where the return of magic has a little surprise for each of them.





	And If I Die Before I Wake

Everyone went into the battle hoping for the best, but mentally planning for the worst. They were heading to the castle at the _end of the world_ \- everyone was planning on the worst happening.

But at the last minute, and contrary to any other plan the ragtag group of Magicians had made, things went their way.

Alice, in a shocking show of solidarity, actually helped them all get the keys in place. Which worked out when Eliot shot the Monster and it went floating into the ether trying to find another host to inhabit. While Quentin was trying not to freak out about the Monster being lose, Julia suddenly showed up, eyes glowing. A breeze kicked up throughout the hallways of the castle and then it was over.

“What did you do?” Quentin asked Julia, catching her as she started to fall.

“Fixed the problem,” Julia said weakly. “Banished the Monster to a place even they can’t escape and freed the princess.”

“Does that make you the knight in shining armor?” Quentin asked with a grin.

“Shut up Q, and take me back to back to the throne room so we can turn magic back on,” Julia said.

It all seemed so … anticlimactic. Keys were inserted, magic flowed.

The Library showed up just that much too late to do anything about it.

They made their way back to the Physical Kids Cottage at Brakebills and filtered off; Alice disappeared off to a location unknown (probably running from the Library), Kady, Julia and Penny!23 all went off together, and Margo went off to find someone she could ‘fuck until she her adrenaline finally wore off’ which left Eliot and Quentin.

“I think I just need to lay down,” Quentin said.

“Me too,” Eliot agreed. “Process everything.”

“Yeah,” Quentin said.

They walked up the stairs together, their shoulders barely brushing as they headed to their respective rooms.

“See you later,” Eliot said a little distractedly as he stepped into his room.

“Yeah, see you later,” Quentin said as he headed further down the hall and entered his own room.

Their doors closed in tandem.

* * * 

Eliot closed the door behind him and flopped down in his bed, not even taking the time to remove his shoes.

He ran a hand over his face, then flinched when an envelope hit him in the face. He sat up and looked around, causing the envelope to fall into his lap.

“Hello?” Eliot called. When no one answered, he looked down at the envelope and saw his hands shaking as he reached for the letter, seeing his name there written in Quentin’s distinctive scrawl. His hands continued to shake as he opened the envelope and spread the letter out on the bed.

_El,_

_I don’t even know if this is going to work - I stole some juice from Fogg’s battery but if we don’t get magic back on._

_Anyway, if this showed up then magic is back on and I’m at Castle Blackspire guarding the Monster._

_Please don’t be mad - I chose this. Fillory saved me when I needed it most and I will do whatever I can to make sure that it keeps on saving others. Like you._

_I’m not scared, El. I know what I signed up for and I’m okay. I’m going to have memories of our fifty years together to keep me company and those are my most treasured memories, Eliot. You, Me, Teddy and Arielle. A family._

_Peaches and plums, El._

_Peaches and plums._

_I love you._

_I love you so much. Remember that._

_Remember me._

_All my love,_

_Quentin_

Eliot read it again. And again. And again. He laid down on the bed and read the letter again, ran his hands over the pages, tracing some of the words with his fingers.

“He loves me,” Eliot whispered. A few moments later he sat up and stared at the door. “Oh shit.”

* * * 

Quentin flopped face first down his bed and let his feet hang over the edge, too exhausted to even kick his shoes off.

He heard the flutter and felt something land on the back of his legs; he tried to reach for it and ended up rolling off the bed onto the floor. When he sat up and looked under his knees he found an envelope there and when he picked it up and flipped it over, almost dropped it when he saw his name written in Eliot’s elegant hand.

He leaned against the bed, carefully opened the envelope and rested the pages on his knees.

_Q,_

_I hope this fucking works. Fogg had a little juice left in his battery so I stole it. Really hope this gets to you._

_I have no fucking clue how all of this is going to turn out. I feel like something is going to go sideways and if it does and I don’t make it and you do … I wanted you to know a few things._

_You are the best fucking thing that ever happened to me. From the moment I saw you, there was something. But it didn’t really hit until we were together in Fillory. At the mosaic._

_I … fuck Q, you are so good, so brave. Too good for me. And I tried so hard during our time together, to be worthy of you. I think I succeeded._

_And when we got back, memories gone then memories returned, I got scared. Because when I get something good, when something goes my way, I freak the fuck out and I run. So I ran and that was totally stupid of me._

_I wish I’d kissed you before we went to Blackspire._

_I wish I’d pressed you against the nearest flat surface and had my way with you - like that one time before Teddy? When I pushed up against that tree and molested that tattoo on your back with my tongue? Yeah … good times._

_Anyway I digress._

_In case I don’t get to tell you this … in case everything goes sideways and everything gets fucked up …_

_I, Eliot Waugh, am so completely in love you with you, Quentin Coldwater. I wish I could spend endless lifetimes with you, just the two of us._

_So there it is, my big confession._

_I’m so in love with you I’m going to probably do something remarkably stupid to save you. To keep you from doing what I know you, you brave lovely man, are going to do._

_Proof of concept. Peaches and plums, motherfucker._

_I love you, remember that._

_-Eliot_

Quentin read the letter four times before the tingling in his feet reminded him he was on the floor of his room in not the most comfortable position.

He managed to get to his feet, shaking his feet about to get feeling back, looked at the letter, then looked back at the door.

“Oh shit,” Quentin said, racing from his room and running down the hall to Eliot’s room.

* * * 

There was a knock on the door right as Eliot’s hand touched the knob.

“I don’t want to talk about your latest conquest, Margo!” Eliot called through the door.

“It’s me.”

Eliot’s hand froze on the knob when he heard Quentin’s voice on the other side of the door.

“El?”

Eliot flexed his fingers, gripped the knob and slowly opened the door.

“Hi,” Eliot said softly.

“HI,” Quentin replied. “Can I come in?”

Eliot hesitated for a moment, but stepped back and pulled the door open so Quentin could step inside. He watched as Quentin wandered in and perched on the end of Eliot’s bed, then froze when he saw his own letter in Quentin’s hand.

“My letter,” Eliot said.

“Yeah,” Quentin said. “Your letter. Um, did you, um, did you read mine?”

“Yeah,” Eliot said, “more than once. You? I mean, did you read mine?”

“I did,” Quentin replied. “You’re quite the romantic, if maybe a little naughty.”

“That tattoo is very lickable,” Eliot said with a shrug. After a minute, he crossed the room and sat down next to Quentin on the bed. “I meant every word, by the way.”

“Likewise,” Quentin said. 

“I can’t believe you were going to spend your life guarding the Monster just to save magic,” Eliot said.

“And to save you,” Quentin said. “And you did something epically stupid that almost backfired. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if the Monster had found a new host to inhabit.”

“Thankfully Julia was around to save the day,” Eliot said. 

“Saved both our asses,” Quentin said. “Allowed us to come back here.”

Eliot didn’t even realize he’d wrapped his arm around Quentin until suddenly Quentin’s head was on his shoulder. He smiled and turned his head a bit, pressing a kiss to Quentin’s hair.

“Sometimes I think about our bed outside the cabin at the mosaic,” Eliot murmured. “When we’d lay out there at night, watching the stars …”

“I loved those nights,” Quentin said. “I remember after … after Arielle, we’d lay out there with Teddy and talk to him about her, to make sure he remembered.”

Eliot wrapped his other arm around Quentin and tugged Quentin into his lap, hugging him tight. The memories, both so far away and yet so close, still sometimes hurt as if they’d just lost her.

“I love you, Quentin,” Eliot whispered, running a hand up and down Quentin’s back.

“I love you,” Quentin whispered back. “Sometimes I just get lost in the memories.”

“Me too,” Eliot said, pressing another kiss to Quentin’s hair. “But there are good memories too. And naughty ones.” He smiled when he heard Quentin laugh.

“You mean the memories that revolve around your fascination with my tattoo?” Quentin asked, his voice slightly muffled from where his face was pressed to Eliot’s chest.

“I don’t have one of my own,” Eliot said, “and yours is so sexy.” He lifted Quentin’s head and tucked a few locks of hair behind Quentin’s ears before leaning in and kissing Quentin sweetly. When he finally broke the kiss, he chuckled softly when Quentin leaned back in for another kiss.

“I missed your kisses,” Quentin said softly.

“Missed yours,” Eliot replied. “Feel like we need to catch up on lost time.” He laughed when Quentin wiggled out of his arms, off his lap and climbed onto the bed.

Eliot climbed off the bed and watched Quentin for a moment before kicking his shoes off, gently removing Quentin’s shoes and then climbing onto the bed, snuggling next to Quentin.

“We know we work,” Quentin murmured.

“We know we work,” Eliot agreed. “We had fifty years to get it right.” He smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind Quentin’s ear.

“Think we can do another fifty?” Quentin asked.

“I was thinking longer than fifty,” Eliot replied softly.

“Longer?” 

“Yeah,” Eliot said, leaning in to give Quentin a sweet kiss. “How about forever?”


End file.
